-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A Utah man trapped for more than 26 hours in a crevice of a popular cave tourist attraction died as rescuers struggled to save him , authorities said Thursday .

John Edward Jones , 26 , of Stansbury Park was stuck in the Nutty Putty Cave , which sits west of Utah Lake near Cedar Valley , according to the sheriff 's office of Utah County .

The cave is 55 to 60 miles south of Salt Lake City .

Sheriff 's officials said Jones entered the cave at around 6 p.m. Tuesday with a group of about 11 people and became stuck about 8:45 p.m. in a `` tightly confined '' feature inside Nutty Putty Cave called `` Bob 's Push . ''

Utah County sheriff 's spokesman Sgt. Spencer Cannon told CNN affiliate KSL that Jones was trapped upside down in a crevice that was about 18 inches wide and about 10 inches high . The crevice is about 150 feet below the surface and about 700 feet from the cave entrance , according to the sheriff 's department .

`` They had him to a level spot where he was n't heading downhill with his head below his feet , '' Cannon said . `` During the course of that , they have a raising system to hold him in position , and one of the devices of that system failed , and Mr. Jones actually fell back to the area where he had been stuck for so long . ''

Shortly before midnight on Wednesday , rescuers got close enough to Jones to conclude that he was not breathing and he had no pulse . Rescue officials were meeting Thursday to determine how to recover Jones ' body .

Rescuers had tried to reach Jones for more than 24 hours , but had problems navigating the treacherous terrain , Cannon said .

`` Getting people to him is very difficult , '' Cannon told KSL before Jones died . `` It is a tightly confined space . When there is movement , it is literally millimeters at a time . ''

There are narrow areas of the cave where visitors have to crawl on their bellies to get through , according to the attraction 's Web site . Up to 5,000 people visit each year , the site said .

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John Edward Jones was stuck in cave crevice outside Salt Lake City

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He was trapped in a space that was 18 inches wide , 10 inches deep

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One of the rescue tools failed while trying to free him and Jones fell back